Yosef Mizrachi

Yosef Mizrachi (; born 1968) is an Israeli-American Haredi rabbi and public speaker. Considered by some to be a leading Orthodox Jewish outreach rabbi, Mizrachi's outspokenness on certain issues has led to his widespread denunciation and characterization as misguided by leading Orthodox Jewish authorities.

Biography Yosef Mizrachi was born in Israel. His father was a Moroccan Jew and his mother was a Persian Jew. After serving in the Israel Defense Forces, he moved to New York in his twenties to pursue a career in finance. that began appearing online in 2004. He is one of the rabbis who revolutionized the use of social media for Orthodox Jewish outreach, aimed especially at non-religious audiences.

Controversies and condemnation In early 2014, before a lecture tour in London, concern was expressed about statements by Mizrachi in his previous lectures relating to the behaviour of secular and religious Jews during the Holocaust suggesting that Down syndrome and autism are "punishments for sins committed in a previous life", among others. Mizrachi responded saying he was taken out of context and he would never disrespect people with disabilities. As a result, at least one of his planned lectures in London was initially cancelled. After hearing a false report that the October 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting took place during a ceremony for the son of a gay couple, Mizrachi blamed the shooting on the allegedly sinful behavior of the congregation.

Mizrachi has claimed that Jews helped bring about the Holocaust by assimilating. In December 2015, in one of his lectures, Mizrachi claimed that it is possible that only one million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust as opposed to the well accepted figure of 6 million, since many of them were not Jewish according to Jewish law which requires a person's mother to be Jewish. Later Mizrachi issued an apology. Mizrachi has been barred from entering the UK by the Home Office. The letter continued that institutions should be more "discerning" with the guests they invite.

In March 2019, a planned visit by Mizrachi to the UK was canceled following reports that the Home Office was considering a ban on account of his track record of spreading hatred and extremism. Mizrachi went on to blame Mirvis - referring to him as "the number one most wicked person in the whole world", along with senior Sephardi rabbi Joseph Dweck, claiming that they are "the two friends, gay lovers, who do everything they can to promote homosexuality and destroy the Jewish nation from inside, destroy the Jewish community in England... he's going to bring a Holocaust on the Jews in England."

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mizrachi claimed that blowing hot air from a hair dryer into the throat was a cure for coronavirus. He recommended this treatment five times a day for two days for confirmed cases, and twice a day for suspected cases.

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